The length of a standing ovation has become something of a pop culture bellwether in recent years, whether that be at a film festival or Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, where each night, fans will time how long the applause lasts for “Champagne Problems” – the current record stands at eight minutes in Los Angeles for night five. For a song that was never a single.
Still, even though we know a standing ovation at a film festival is a popularity contest and not a reliable measure of how critically acclaimed a film can be – just recall Kevin Costner’s Horizon Part One receiving cheers and applause for over seven minutes at Cannes Film Festival, and then wonder, ‘what happened to Horizon?’ – each night of the Venice Film Festival we keep an eye on the trade magazine’s social media accounts for the evening’s ovation-meter, and wonder which A-lister will receive the longest applause.
Will it be Angelina Jolie’s film beating estranged husband Brad Pitt’s new movie? Or does the double star power of Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore drown out the cheers for Nicole Kidman?
“The clapping would have gone on for longer, but the festival programmers cut the lights to let the actors leave,” reported Variety.
Not bad at all for a film not in competition but one which received warm reviews
Wolfs: 5 minutes
Brad Pitt and George Clooney premiered their new heist comedy at the festival, and were joined by their partners Ines de Ramon and Amal Clooney as they danced their way through the five-minute ovation.
It was also reported that the applause would have continued, but the film started 30 minutes late.
